


On the Brink

by sistercacao



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Disturbing Themes, M/M, Post-Canon, Preventers (Gundam Wing)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-09
Updated: 2010-09-09
Packaged: 2019-03-07 07:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13430400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sistercacao/pseuds/sistercacao
Summary: Sometimes, it's only at the end of a case that you can see how much it's taken out of you.





	On the Brink

**Author's Note:**

> Written for GW500. Features a rather disturbing topic.

A young recruit, several years my junior, knocked on my office door and opened it a crack to stick his head inside. “Hey Agent Maxwell, Chang wants you in his office.”

I was up and out of my chair in a second, giving the agent a distracted “thank you” on the way out. Chang calling me to his office at ten-thirty that evening could only mean one thing. We were all working the overnight shift for a single reason, after all.

I strode into the office, not bothering to knock like my messenger had. Wufei was behind his computer, peering intently at the screen, and Heero was perched behind him, one elbow resting on the back of Wufei’s seat. On any other day, I’d get a little happy thrill from the way Heero brightened at my entrance, but today I was focused on little else but the mission.

“Tell me you got the guy,” I said by way of greeting.

“Okay,” Wufei said, pivoting his computer screen so I could get a look. “We got the guy.”

I peered solemnly at the image in front of me. The man’s face was still a little blurry– you can only go so far with photo editing software– but there was more than enough there to make a positive identification.

“The guy’s face was heavily obscured in all the pictures of him,” Heero said, though I was only half-listening. Staring down this guy’s smug face, his little blurry smirking mouth, was making it hard to concentrate on little else. “It took forever to restore the pictures even this much, but it’ll definitely be enough to convict on. We’ve spent the last several hours running them through the database, and we have a list of several possible matches...”

Thankfully, Wufei or Heero had cropped the picture during the editing process, so that only a tiny sliver at the edge of the photograph remained– the last few unruly strands of a dark head of hair– to suggest that anyone else had once been in this picture. Unfortunately, I had seen the entire sickening series and my mind supplied the rest of the picture unbidden in my mind: The naked, sweat-slicked body, the broad hands gripping tiny brown arms hard enough to bruise, the wide, frightened eyes of a young, young boy...

“Where’s the list?” I said, doing a spectacular impression of Heero’s monotone. If you didn’t know me well, you might not even recognize how seethingly angry I was. I was nearly mad enough to puke. Now that we had some suspects, I felt like I couldn’t spend another minute waiting to get this fucker. I could almost feel my hands wrapping around his pale little neck...

“Duo,” Heero had come around from behind the desk to stand at my side. He put his hand on my shoulder and I nearly jumped, I was that focused on the screen in front of me. “We can’t do anything yet. We still have to obtain warrants, inform Une of our findings–”

“Give me the list, Heero. Now.”

“I’ll be right back,” Wufei said suddenly, flashing Heero a look I didn’t miss as he strode out the door, closing it behind him. Alone in the office now, Heero’s hand drifted to a less professional position behind my neck, rubbing small circles right where he knew I got sore from stress.

“Duo, we’ll get the guy. He’s already caught, he just doesn’t know it yet.” Heero’s low, uninflected voice was meant to be soothing, but my frustration and disgust tied a knot in my stomach and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the photo on Wufei’s screen.

“Two hundred kids,” I spat. “Two hundred innocent children this guy has gotten his hands on, and the sick fucker has the _audacity_ to take pictures and brag about it on the net.”

“Well, if he hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have been able to catch him,” Heero reasoned.

“We _haven’t_ caught him yet!” I turned away from the screen then, revolted, and faced Heero, who I thought was acting mighty damn calm about all of this. “Every second that guy spends out there is a second too long. What if there’s another victim? We could be out there bringing this fuck down and instead we’re sitting here _waiting_!”

“We have to allow a little more time, Duo,” Heero said, steadily meeting my gaze. “We’re going to bring this case justice.”

“There is no justice for this man,” I nearly growled. “There’s no punishment appropriate for what he’s done.” I shook my head in disbelief at my partner’s calmness. I don’t know how he managed to remove himself emotionally from this situation, but when I thought about this case, all I could see were the faces of the children, the victims whose frozen expressions of fear had burned in my mind ever since I’d first seen those pictures.

“Wufei understands,” I said darkly.

“Wufei has a little boy of his own,” Heero replied, “of course he understands. I understand too, Duo. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to let you go out and take the law into your own hands.”

“Then I guess you _don’t_ understand, Heero,” I shot back. “Not if you can’t imagine anything less than death being too kind for this asshole.”

Suddenly, Heero’s arms were around me, pulling me, however unyielding, against him. “ _Death_ is too kind for this asshole, Duo! Killing him won’t bring any resolution, and you’ll be the one paying the price! I will _not_ let you sacrifice yourself for the sake of ‘justice’, no matter how much I want him to suffer for what he’s done!” His voice, calm and patient only a moment before, now betrayed all the emotion he’d been holding in for my sake. “This case has taken you away from me for months, Duo... I won’t let it take you away from me forever.”

In the back of my mind, I’d noticed it too– how my preoccupation with finding this predator had taken its toll on our relationship: the long hours spent at headquarters, the sleepless nights, the sex and then just the contact diminishing to nearly nothing. I’d been so caught up in the case that I’d let my personal life suffer, let _our_ personal life suffer, and through it all, Heero had understood and stood by me and supported me because he knew how much it was taking out of me. And I’d been so damn selfish the whole time that even if I was aware of it, I’d let it happen.

If I didn’t have Heero, I don’t think there’s any question I would have gone right out and found the guy and killed him. And then, just like Heero said, the guy wouldn’t even have to atone, and the one left a criminal would be me.

“You’re right,” I said at length, leaning into his embrace. I was still furious, those images of the victims still burned in my mind, but I owed it to Heero not to lose myself to this completely. I’d wait for the warrants, I’d go through the motions and follow procedure, even if it meant stocking my gun with stun ammo just in case I really and truly lost control when we finally caught the guy.

“I’m sorry,” I added, hoping Heero understood that I was apologizing for more than just losing my temper.

“I love you,” he said, planting a kiss to my temple.

“Love you too.” I gave Heero a short, grateful kiss before I pulled away.

“Now, let’s get Wufei back in here and see about getting those warrants.”


End file.
